Read on to see why we awarded this Special Mention to Breanne and her highly unusual tart!

There were some very unusual pies in this competition. We saw grape pies, chocolate pies, peanut butter pies, and not one but two bean pies!

What put this one over the top for us was Breanne's addition of a brulee topping. We are very intrigued by her description of the creamy texture of the bean filling, and her beautiful photos of the flawless crust. But the thought of those elements married to a crispy, crackly, bruleed sugar crust was almost too much to handle. We can hardly wait to try this tart!

Faith is executive editor of The Kitchn and author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook, coauthored with Sara Kate Gillingham, as well as Bakeless Sweets. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband Mike.